In a season where the unexpected has become common place, the University of Miami aimed to pull off one more shocker on Saturday.
The Hurricanes experienced a stunner alright, but not the one they were looking for.
Duke senior forward Ryan Kelly, who hadn’t played since hurting his right foot on Jan. 8 against Clemson, came off the injured list to pump in a career-high 36 points as the No. 3 Blue Devils (25-4, 12-4 ACC) defeated the fifth-ranked Hurricanes 79-76 after a wild finish at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The 6-foot-11 Kelly sank 10 of 14 shots from the floor, including 7-of-9 three pointers, to keep UM (23-5, 14-2) from clinching an outright ACC regular-season championship. UM used various defenders and strategies to cool off Kelly, but nothing worked.
“I thought we were prepared for Ryan Kelly, but obviously not that Ryan Kelly,” said UM coach Jim Larranaga. “He was dynamic. Thirty-six points on 14 attempts — that’s, quite frankly, ridiculous. One of the threes that he hit, I turned to my staff and said, ‘This guy is unconscious.’ ”
Kelly had never scored more than 23 points and the performance even had Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski perplexed.
“How did that happen?” Krzyzewski asked rhetorically. “I don’t know how that happened, but it did.”
Despite Kelly’s outburst and the full-throttled support of the Cameron Crazies, UM had two chances to send the game into overtime in the closing seconds.
Shane Larkin, who led the Hurricanes with 25 points, missed a three-pointer with six seconds remaining. Durand Scott ran down Larkin’s miss and fired a pass to the left corner for Rion Brown, whose three-point attempt bounced off the rim as the final buzzer sounded.
“We came out with a lot of confidence,” Larkin said. “We knew what this game could do for our program. They just matched us punch for punch.”
Floor slap for floor slap, too.
During the final minutes of UM’s 90-63 rout of the Blue Devils on Jan. 23, the five Hurricanes on the court slapped the floor in unison at the urging of UM football great Warren Sapp and in an apparent mocking of a longtime Duke tradition.
With Sapp among the capacity audience of 9,314 on Saturday, Duke returned the favor. With the Blue Devils up by 10 points and 1:55 to play, a couple of Duke players demonstratively slapped the floor as UM brought the ball up the court.
“I just wanted to put a stamp on that defensive exchange,” said Duke sophomore Quinn Cook.
Duke nearly blew the lead as UM stormed back.
UM, which is guaranteed the top seed in the ACC tournament, can still capture the conference regular-season title by winning one of its two remaining games, both at home — Wednesday night against Georgia Tech or Saturday afternoon against Clemson on Senior Day.
Larranaga tried his own starting lineup change, inserting Reggie Johnson into the starting five for the first time since the 300-pound center broke his thumb in late December, but it fell far short of what Duke received from Kelly.
Johnson, who enjoyed a career-best outing with 27 points and 12 rebounds in UM’s 98-94 overtime victory at Duke last season, had a forgettable showing. Johnson spent much of the game in foul trouble and finished scoreless, missing each of his five shots from the floor.
Larranaga said he was hoping to reward Johnson with the start while giving Julian Gamble some needed rest.
“I thought that if they kind of reversed roles, it might help both of them, but obviously that didn’t happen,” Larranaga said.
UM was looking to become the first team to go 4-0 against Duke and North Carolina in the same season since Georgia Tech in 1995-96. The Hurricanes were also attempting to become the first team other than North Carolina to win at Duke in consecutive seasons since Wake Forest won five in a row at Cameron from 1993-97.
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